How to Achieve Realtime Profitability Using Margin Analysis in S/4HANA

SAP Margin Analysis (previously known as Account Based CO-PA) allows organizations to gain insights into their margins, revenues, and costs of specific market segments such as products, customers, material groups and other dimensions. The goal is to provide management with contribution margin information to aid in the decision-making process. With S/4HANA, you can perform Profitability Analysis using both the Costing-based CO-PA and Margin Analysis methods. SAP recommends Margin Analysis as the default solution even though both Costing-based and Margin Analysis can co-exist. This is because, only the Margin Analysis solution updates the universal journal (ACDOCA), and all future innovations will only be made for Margin Analysis.



The Attributed Profitability Segment feature exists only in the Margin Analysis solution in S/4HANA. This feature allows you to activate the derivation of profitability characteristics for income statement items which do not carry an account assignment to a profitability segment in in G/L line-item table ACDOCA, but instead to Cost Center or Internal Order for example. Hence it allows you to do detailed real-time analysis on your market dimensions. Additionally, this derivation of characteristics with the primary postings will free up time during your period-end activities by eliminating some closing activities. Without this feature, you will need to wait until period-end activities such as settlement, allocation and top-down distribution have been performed before you can report contribution margin by market segments.



Watch this session with CO Expert Anand Seetharaju, where you will learn the following:


- Margin Analysis in S/4HANA
- Overview of attributed profitability segment
- Configuration of attributed profitability segment
- Reporting and best practices
- Demo
- System limitations